Two key Congressional Democrats from Washington state, Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Adam Smith, are proposing to make it easier for cleanup workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site and elsewhere to claim medical benefits after being exposed to toxic substances.
The lawmakers last week proposed the Toxic Exposure Safety Act of 2021. Murray, who looks after Hanford funding as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Smith who chairs the House Armed Service Committee, are backing companion bills in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In addition to the Toxic Exposure Safety Act of 2021, Murray has also introduced legislation to encourage new technology to help DOE’s Office of Environmental Management clean up contaminated nuclear sites. The cleanup office’s needs for breakthrough technology is a need cited by the National Academies of Science and others in recent years.
As of Wednesday evening the text of the technology bill, S. 1065, was not available yet on the congress.gov website. There was an online summary, saying the measure would “increase collaboration between offices within the Department of Energy to develop and deploy technology to assist the mission of the Office of Environmental Management.”
The health measure would expand access to benefits under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to include workers exposed to toxic substances at cleanup sites, according to a one-page fact sheet.
The legislation includes funding for a five-year, $15-million epidemiological study. It also calls upon the Department of Health and Human Services to commission the National Academies to summarize existing research on the link between various diseases and exposure to toxic substances at DOE sites. The legislation was sparked by a 2020 Seattle Times report on debilitating illnesses suffered by some long-time workers at the Hanford Site, according to the summary.
Both Senate bills have Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, as a co-sponsor.
